Pioneer SX1980 - $2500 (Warren, MI)

teal'c

Nuclear Cardiac Parent
No affiliation
The 680 and 780 he mentions he's listed for $175 and $225 respectively.


This is a working unit. On the left side there are a few light bent fins. on the right side there are broken fins but I have a replacement. A couple scratches on the top. look at the pictures... Serious only leave a phone number. also have the sx680,sx780,sx880,sx980. will do a package deal.. This unit will definetly need a good deoxit cleaning. They are getting harder and more expensive. Dont miss your chance over a couple hundred more than you want to spend..,
https://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/ele/d/pioneer-sx1980/6458087033.html
00D0D_kVPpyPFAKXd_1200x900.jpg 00K0K_1jJpHAkuSn6_1200x900.jpg 00b0b_8Om67NXNWse_1200x900.jpg
 
Saw that one, not quite sure what the history is but it looks like someone bought into an estate or small collection.

The price seems reasonable for a working unit, in the Detroit area it should sell.
 
Unrestored/needs work to be cosmetically acceptable (to a collector)--right there is another $500, so you are looking at a $3K minimum investment--I'd call that borderline at best in terms of price.
 
in the years to come, it'll sell for 10K. and someone will remember it was $2500 and
regrets passing it up.

if you just want one, then buy it, bite the bullet, get it rebuilt/blueprinted, listen to it for years
then sell it, or leave it for the estate sale (might get $10 for it).

if you're flipping, learn to recap/rebuild. best practices from the car world.

meanwhile always have something around and enjoy the music.
 
I regret passing on one with original box 5 yrs ago for $1500, will be the same case here in another 5 yrs.
 
Don't get me wrong--I love the looks of the big old silver-faced monster receivers. Although technically not a "monster", I still keep a Yamaha CR-2020 in my stable, just for the aesthetics--and performance-wise, it is no slouch either. TOTL (as others have mentioned) does not necessarily = best of the line, but they command top dollar (both new and used) because they are the "flagship" model and are produced and sold in much lower quantities than their "lesser" siblings. I am (for the most part) a separates guy, so I am not into collecting vintage receivers, and I buy based on quality and reliability to listen--and the SX-1980 does not fit those requirements. If one fell into my lap for next to nothing, I wouldn't kick it to the curb, but I wouldn't intentionally seek one out at the current pricing. Not hatin', just sayin'...
 
@savatage1973

I agree. TOTL are not necessarily the best in the line. however, the design engineers put on the project were
not fresh out of school but were challenged to build the company's flagship. their budget constraints were
perhaps less than the bottom stuff that had to sell in volume and provide corporate profits.

it takes genius at both ends to deliver (not like us arm-chair 4 stars) a reliable, economical unit with good SQ.

however, you gotta feed the inner (us) and outer (them that we "dislike") flipper. everyone wants to spend
as little as possible, enjoy it for decades, have ZERO maintenance (us who don't know a tube from a cap),
then sell for a BIG profit, and finally brag about it here on AK.

I sometimes (maybe always) encourage this flipper-madness/audiofrenzy for a number of reasons. In the bay
area, houses can be and are flipped for 100K in 30 days with minor cosmetics (trimming the garden).
C5 corvettes are flipped similarly.

reasons. get everyone interested in buying/selling (call this upgrading) old stuff that was going to be landfill.
make some money in something you're interested in. educate everyone on flipping. maybe get more folks
on AK other than flippers looking for BOM on their "scores".

Flipping (versus gifting) increases the GDP. gives street cred, bragging rights, and like drifting in Oakland
(is there drifting anywhere outside California? - like downtown manhatten?) you can now do what everyone
in Calfornia wants/like/has to do to survive.

long live the TOTL of anything and enjoy the music.
 
Generally speaking, most mass produced units must be in top-drawer condition before having appreciation potential worth talking about.

If & when the day comes that SX-1980s begin to change hands for 5-figure sums, I have grave doubts that this example will ever become one of them.
 
I have to grimace every time someone here talks about expecting the price to double in ten years, ... which is what, 8% annually? A little more than the current rate of inflation? Beats putting the money in your mattress, ... but hardly a shrewd investment.

I just sold a couple of rifles I bought in the mid '90s for 10x what I paid new, ... have been using them. That wasn't shrewd, just good luck. I sold a manufacturing business for double my investment after 3 years, that was hard work. If my vintage audio equipment doubles in ten years, that just means that there's still a market for it.

Buy what you want to own people, not what you want to sell, ... unless you're buying it for far less than its current value. There's a saying: "you make money on the buy". If it isn't a great deal now when you buy it, ... it isn't a great deal.
 
I regret passing on one with original box 5 yrs ago for $1500, will be the same case here in another 5 yrs.

I don't need one but that opportunity would sorely tempt me. Hard to believe. And I've never seen one in my searching.
That said, they will NOT be selling for 5 figures. Ever. Not even upper 4's.
 
at last, a prediction. lest I be a nay sayer. the gold/steel rolex was well under $1k about the
same time the original LS3/5As were selling for $300. and back in the day, what were the
WE 300B selling for?
 
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